Today’s homily: Passion Tuesday

Exspecta Dominum: Waiting with Courage in the Lion’s Den

MASS Exspecta Dominum
LESSON Daniel 14: 27-42
GOSPEL St John 7: 1-13
HOMILIST Mt Revd Jerome Lloyd OSJV

Beloved in Christ,

The Church places upon our lips today a command both simple and severe: Exspecta Dominum — Expect the Lord. Not merely wait, not merely endure, but wait with courage: viriliter age, et confortetur cor tuum. Act manfully, and let thy heart be strengthened.

This is not the waiting of passivity. It is the waiting of Daniel in the lion’s den.

The Silence of God and the Trial of the Just

Consider the scene given to us in the Lesson. Daniel, the servant of the living God, is cast into the den—not for sin, not for failure, but for fidelity. He has done what is right, and for this he is condemned.

And what does God do?

He does not prevent the trial. He permits it.

Six days Daniel remains among the lions. Six days of silence. Six days in which Heaven does not intervene in the way man expects. The enemies of God believe themselves victorious. The king himself despairs.

Is this not the condition of the Church in every age of crisis?

Is this not our condition now?

The faithful man looks around and sees confusion exalted, error enthroned, truth silenced—not only in the world, but even within the visible structures that ought to defend it. And he asks: Where is God? Why does He delay?

But the liturgy answers: Exspecta Dominum.

God is not absent. He is preparing a greater manifestation of His glory.

The Hidden Providence of God

For while Daniel waits, something unseen is already in motion.

Far away, in Judea, the prophet Habacuc prepares a simple meal. He does not know why. He does not know for whom. Yet suddenly he is seized—lifted by the angel—and carried across the world to feed the servant of God.

Here is the mystery: God’s providence is already acting, even when His action is invisible.

Daniel is not abandoned. He is sustained.

And more than sustained—he is remembered.

“Thou hast remembered me, O God, and Thou hast not forsaken them that love Thee.”

This is the cry of every soul that endures Passiontide faithfully. Not the cry of immediate deliverance—but the deeper certainty that God does not forget.

We, too, are carried—often without knowing it—by hidden graces, unseen intercessions, providences that only eternity will reveal.

Christ in Secret — The Pattern of the Passion

Now turn to the Gospel.

Our Lord does not go up openly to the feast. He goes in secret. He withdraws. He delays. He refuses the demand for spectacle: “Manifest Thyself to the world.”

But Christ will not reveal Himself on the terms of the world.

“My time is not yet come.”

Here is the key to Passiontide: the hiddenness of Christ.

He is present—but concealed.

He is acting—but silently.

He is advancing toward His Passion—but according to a divine timetable, not human urgency.

And why?

Because the world hates Him.

Not because He is obscure—but because He testifies that its works are evil.

Let us be clear: the hatred directed toward Christ is not accidental. It is essential. Truth provokes opposition. Light exposes darkness. And a world that prefers its illusions will always resist the One who reveals reality.

The Church Under Persecution — Then and Now

This is why Holy Mother Church today places before us not only the Collect of the day, but also the prayer contra persecutores Ecclesiae—against the persecutors of the Church.

This is no antiquarian relic. It is a living prayer.

For the Church is always, in some sense, in the lion’s den.

Sometimes the persecution is external—open hostility, legal pressure, cultural marginalisation. At other times, more insidiously, it is internal—confusion, compromise, the softening of doctrine, the fear of speaking plainly lest the world disapprove.

And so the murmuring of the Gospel continues:

“He is a good man… No, He deceiveth the people.”

Christ is still judged. Still misunderstood. Still whispered about—rarely proclaimed openly.

Why? Because, as the Gospel tells us, no man spoke openly for fear.

Fear—this is the mark of a Church that has forgotten how to wait for the Lord.

The Courage of Expectation

But the Introit commands otherwise: Do manfully.

Christian waiting is not cowardice. It is fortitude under trial.

Daniel does not negotiate with the lions.

Christ does not negotiate with unbelief.

The saints do not negotiate with error.

They endure. They witness. They remain.

And this is the heart of the matter: to “expect the Lord” is not to suspend action—it is to act with unwavering fidelity, even when the outcome is hidden.

The Eucharist — The Pledge of Deliverance

Finally, the liturgy brings us to the altar.

In the Postcommunion, we ask that our frequent approach to the sacred mysteries may be both signum et pignus—a sign and a pledge.

A pledge of what?

Of deliverance.

Daniel was fed in the den.

We are fed in the midst of a hostile world.

He received bread sent by God.

We receive the Bread which is God.

And this is the ultimate assurance: not that we will be spared the lions—but that we will not be abandoned among them.

Waiting at the Edge of the Cross

Carissimi, Passiontide is not merely a preparation for suffering. It is a schooling in divine timing.

Christ delays.

God permits.

The just man waits.

But the end is certain.

The lions will not prevail.

The truth will not be silenced.

The hidden Christ will be revealed.

Therefore:

Exspecta Dominum.

Wait for Him.

Stand firm.

Let your heart take courage.

For the God of Daniel lives.

The Christ who walks in secret advances toward His hour.

And those who remain faithful—though surrounded, though tested, though hidden—shall be brought forth, not merely from the den, but into glory.

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